Sydney students pioneer Australian-first solar apartment project

If you’re keen to reduce your carbon footprint, switching to solar is probably the most logical first step.

After all, the sun Australia gets is *perfect* for solar, and 16.5 per cent of Australian houses already have panels on their roofs - the highest proportion of households per country in the world.

But - key word in that last sentence - houses and solar panels mix; apartment blocks and solar panels don’t. The logistics of getting a whole apartment block of residents, landlords and the body corporate on board, and figuring out how to split the energy among residences makes the whole thing a nightmare.

Switching apartment blocks to solar is such a headache that there’s currently ZERO apartments in Australia with solar panels and solar storage (so residents can use the power they generate around the clock, not just during daylight).

That is, until today - after a bunch of students from the University of Sydney figured it out.

Meet Sydney’s solar kids

In the heart of Sydney’s Newtown is a student housing rarity that probably won’t ever be repeated: a co-op called Stucco.

Uni co-ops are pretty big in countries like America, but in Sydney, Stucco is the only one of its kind: it’s a community complex where 40 low-income students live together in 8 apartments, paying around $90 a week (for a primo spot in Sydney, that’s nuts).

The key difference of Stucco to uni colleges - like the prestigious ones on campus at USYD, for example - is that the complex isn’t run by the University. Rather, the students are both the residents and the landlords - so they’re in charge of keeping the place running (plumbing, repairs, etc) themselves.

Last year, Stucco residents Bjorn Sturmberg and Louis Van Ransberg had an idea. They knew that the complexities of renting and apartment block living made solar virtually impossible to pull off. But with STUCCO’s unique situation of being their own landlords, some of the intense bureaucracy could be slightly reduced.

Sarah King, Bjorn Sturmberg and Louis van Rensburg.

triple j Hack: Ange McCormack

Bjorn, Louis and Stucco’s President Sarah King got to work - drafting an innovation submission to the City of Sydney for a grant.

“Stucco has wanted to make the switch to renewable energy for a long time, and it’s something that’s been really hard to do,” Sarah told Hack, “But we’ve been able to realise something here, a project that’s been way bigger and grander that we’ve ever imagined.”

Their large-scale battery storage system - and their proposal to set up meters for each apartment so they could buy electricity off themselves - turned out to be an Australian first.

“We are showing leadership in this area. We are literally the first in Australia to have done this," Sarah says.

Stucco's roof.

Supplied

How does their solar + storage system actually work?

The exact plan for Stucco’s solar network changed over time - Bjorn, Louis, Sarah, and experts along the way had to figure things out as they went.

“The biggest challenge in doing this is that every single thing we’re doing, it’s often the first time that it’s ever happened. The technology’s new, the regulation’s aren’t there yet,” Bjorn told Hack.

They've made it happen over a year later, with the panels being officially installed and the storage switched on today - ready to provide the co-op with an estimated 80 per cent of their power.

"With Stucco acting as the body corporate, the meters in each unit will operate in an 'embedded network' that will share the solar, storage and grid electricity across the building.

“This centralised system means that instead of paying an external energy provider, we will be buying energy from ourselves! For tenants, all they have to do is sign up to the PPA when they move in. As simple as that!”

Sexy solar panels for days.

Supplied

What does this mean for other apartments, and the future?

Bjorn, Louis and Sarah see their project as a way of paving the way for other Australian apartment blocks wanting to go green.

Their system shows how a body corporate can install solar panels on an apartment’s roof, and sell the energy back to its tenants. Hopefully, the group say, it’ll inspire other apartment dwellers to try and make the effort.

But the motivation behind the project runs a little deeper.

“The overarching value with this project is that there is a thing called climate change,” Louis told Hack, “and that’s why we’re doing this.”

Sarah King says the project has been about empowering the little guy to make a tangible difference.

“I’ve always cared about climate change but in a very distant way. Our leaders aren’t really doing anything about it, and it seems like way too big of a problem for us to do anything about it, other than advocacy or sharing something on Facebook,” Sarah says.

“So I think young people really can do this kind of stuff. And we’re the ones that are going to make the change.

“We’re the ones that are going to be alive for the real impact of climate change.”